How to Cook in a Fixer-Upper Investment Property

We have recently been staying at one of our investment properties while we’re fixing it up.

This predicament often leaves us a little short when it comes to storing food, as there’s no refrigerator, cooking food, as we can’t plug in the large appliances before completely upgrading the electricity, and also, limited food in the pantry, as we need to be able to pick up and go quickly once the property’s sold.

So, as we often are in this state, we have become extremely creative when it comes to cooking out of the cupboard. It’s almost like cooking when camping.

Yes, we have a small charcoal grill outside, but there’s only so many times you can cook on the grill in a week, even for simple health purposes.

So, we always have a single electric burner because it doesn’t require a lot of electricity and it’s easy to set up, take down and cook on.

The problem with these is that they often don’t reach the higher temperatures you need to, for instance, boil water. The water gets extremely hot and steams, but never quite reaches a boil. However, this is great for cooking eggs in the morning, even sauteing vegetables, heating up soups, etc.

We’ve got a coffee maker too. Although we don’t drink coffee, we love tea, especially in the morning, so this is a fast way to boil water when needed, within 4-5 minutes.

An electric skillet is our key cooking appliance. It reaches 400-450 degrees and can even sit on warm, as it has a dial for temperature control.

A few handy items we’ve found are a colander or strainer, 2-3 gallon water cooler with spout, 2 mugs, 2-3 plates, 4 forks, 4 large spoons, 2 sharp knives, can opener, flipper for the grill or in a stainless steel frying pan, 1 set of tongs, 2 baking pans, corkscrew for wine, 2 large skewers for the grill, and a BBQ lighter.

Of course, have lighter fluid and charcoal on hand for the grill, unless you have a portable gas BBQ available.

That’s the bare bones of what’s necessary to make some extremely tasty meals when you don’t have much to work with when cooking.

Kimberly Turner is the web-chef behind CookingWithKimberly.com.
Food writer, food consultant and general lover of the delicious treats on our planet, Kimberly brings you hearty content, delicious offerings, fun antics, and some down-home cooked love with her mom making cameos.
Internet entrepreneur and marketer, International model, and Editor-in-Chief of a number of online publications.
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